Book excerpt: From the creator of the cult classic Black Hole, a graphic narrative that will delight and surpass the expectations of his fans. X'ed Out is most easily described as 'Hergé meets William S. Burroughs.' We are back in that spectral, surreal terrain that Burns has made his own - only now the seamless weaves of the erotic and horrifying is played out in parallel worlds of adolescent longing and dreamscape set in China.